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A daily dose of philosophical food for your noodle!

Tuesday, June 16, 2009 Volkswagen "Transparent Factory" By Paul Hsieh @ 12:01 AM Volkswagen's sleek new "transparent factory" in Dresden, Germany is a technological marvel: Perhaps if American car companies practiced this kind of innovation, they wouldn't be facing bankruptcy and/or government takeover. (Via Howard Roerig.) Labels: Cool, Technology   E-mail Paul Hsieh    PermaLink ()    Comments (New Page)     Monday, April 27, 2009 Mel Blanc's Vocal Cords By Paul Hsieh @ 1:26 PM Today's medical video is a fiber optic direct laryngoscope view of Mel Blanc's vocal cords as he does various cartoon character voices. (Via Boing Boing.) Labels: Cool   E-mail Paul Hsieh    PermaLink ()    Comments (New Page)     Saturday, April 25, 2009 Parkour On A Bicycle By Paul Hsieh @ 8:04 AM I had no idea that some of these stunts were physically possible: (Via TreyPeden and Kottke.) Labels: Cool   E-mail Paul Hsieh    PermaLink ()    Comments (New Page)     Thursday, March 26, 2009 Extreme Sheep LED Art By Paul Hsieh @ 3:43 PM Ok, maybe it's a bit of stretch to call it art. But it's pretty cool: Labels: Art, Cool   E-mail Paul Hsieh    PermaLink ()    Comments (New Page)     Wednesday, March 25, 2009 Steep Rollercoaster By Paul Hsieh @ 12:00 PM If you like rollercoasters, then you'll love this one: The new attraction at Thorpe Park in Surrey, Saw -- The Ride, claims to offer the world's steepest freefall drop -- a beyond-vertical 100-degree descent back under the ride's 100ft (30m) peak. Includes video. (Via BBspot.) Labels: Cool   E-mail Paul Hsieh    PermaLink ()    Comments (New Page)     Friday, February 27, 2009 Walking Cultural Activism: People of Reason By Greg Perkins @ 12:01 PM Tammy and I thought it would be great to produce a series of T-shirt designs for those occasions when it is appropriate to wear our ideas on our sleeves.  Bonus points if they aren't just provocative but actually spark some good engagement! Here is a design that underscores a cardinal value, the primary virtue, our essential nature -- highlighting a fundamental contrast with all those who tout being people of faith: (Just click through to BoltOfReason.Com to check out all the available styles and colors. We of course love suggestions and requests -- we're already working on a lot of fun ideas, and if you are the first to hit us with a new one that we use in a future shirt design, you'll get one for free!) Labels: Activism, Cool, Shameless Commerce Division   E-mail Greg Perkins    PermaLink ()    Comments (New Page)     Wednesday, February 25, 2009 Your Evolution Dollars At Work: Chicken Head Tracking! By Greg Perkins @ 10:04 AM In honor of Darwin's 200th birthday, here's a little evolutionary coolness to make you smile -- and want to go play with a chicken! Seriously, this is an awesome set of adaptations; just think of the myriad feedback mechanisms at work! Plus, it made me smile... and now I want to go play with a chicken. Labels: Animals, Cool, Science   E-mail Greg Perkins    PermaLink ()    Comments (New Page)     Thursday, January 15, 2009 Walking Cultural Activism: A Personal Relationship By Greg Perkins @ 3:12 PM Tammy and I thought it would be great to produce a series of T-shirt designs for those occasions when it is appropriate to wear our ideas on our sleeves. Bonus points if they aren't just provocative but actually spark some good engagement! Here's a design that offers a simple, wry response to the oddly-fashionable notion that Christianity isn't a religion (no sir, it's a relationship with Jesus): I have a personal relationship with reality. You can't tell at that resolution, but the font sports a distressed typewriter look, and there is a subtle emphasis on the word 'reality'. Here's a closer look: (Just click through to BoltOfReason.Com to check out all the available styles and colors. We of course love suggestions and requests -- we're already working on a lot of fun ideas, and if you are the first to hit us with a new one that we use in a future shirt design, you'll get one for free!) Labels: Activism, Cool, Shameless Commerce Division   E-mail Greg Perkins    PermaLink ()    Comments (New Page)     Friday, January 09, 2009 Dressage Camel By Diana Hsieh @ 1:14 PM Wow, I can't convey just how bizarre it is to watch a camel do dressage: Labels: Animals, Cool   E-mail Diana Hsieh    PermaLink ()    Comments (New Page)     Tuesday, December 16, 2008 Immigration Patterns By Diana Hsieh @ 5:24 PM Via LGF, a cool video showing immigration patterns from 1870 to 2007: Immigration to the US, 1820-2007 v2 from Ian S on Vimeo. I wonder what the video would look like if America adopted an immigration policy consistent with individual rights. Labels: Cool, Culture   E-mail Diana Hsieh    PermaLink ()    Comments (New Page)     Monday, December 08, 2008 Auditorium By Diana Hsieh @ 3:19 PM Here's some cool fun to around play with -- but probably not at the office except with headphones on, as sound is definitely integral to the program. (Via David Rehm.) Labels: Cool, Fun   E-mail Diana Hsieh    PermaLink ()    Comments (New Page)     Wednesday, December 03, 2008 Walking Cultural Activism: Of The World By Greg Perkins @ 3:08 PM Tammy and I thought it would be great to produce a series of T-shirt designs for those occasions when it is appropriate to wear our ideas on our sleeves. Bonus points if they aren't just provocative but actually spark some good engagement! This design speaks to the phenomenon of Christians who are taught to be in the world but not of the world and revel in being aliens here in reality. There is even a company named NOTW ("Not Of This World") that sells them a staggering array of hip decals and clothing. Not to put too fine a point on it, but that's just messed up. The world is the source of every one of our values -- that's why we are in it, and why we should love being in it! Yes, that is a reference to Leonardo da Vinci's renowned Vitruvian Man drawing. "This image exemplifies the blend of art and science during the Renaissance and ... represents a cornerstone of Da Vinci's attempts to relate man to nature." Here's a closer look: (Just click through to BoltOfReason.Com to check out all the available styles and colors. We of course love suggestions and requests -- we're already working on a lot of fun ideas, and if you are the first to hit us with a new one that we use in a future shirt design, you'll get one for free!) Labels: Activism, Cool, Shameless Commerce Division   E-mail Greg Perkins    PermaLink ()    Comments (New Page)     Thursday, November 20, 2008 There Are A Lot Of People In China By Paul Hsieh @ 12:06 AM Today's Eric Daniels-type bit of trivia comes from Strange Maps": China is the world's most populous nation. That much anybody knows. But even if we know a bit more (that the number of Chinese is around 1.32 billion, which is just under 20% of all humans alive today), that figure is still too big to mean much beyond that China is 'number one'. This map compares the population of China's provinces (plus the 'renegade province' of Taiwan), autonomous regions and municipalities with those of whole countries, and thus helps shed some light on that issue. China is an interesting country in that it is no longer committed ideologically to Communism, but it is no where close to a free country. Instead, the ideology is a mixture of authoritarianism, nationalism, and some market elements. Hence, I'm glad that there are people interested in translating Ayn Rand's works into Chinese. If Rand's ideas ever took hold there, China could become a true powerhouse on the world stage. On the other hand, if a different bad ideology became entrenched in place of Communism, we could be looking at a huge menace. (Via Dave Does The Blog.) Labels: Cool, Foreign Policy   E-mail Paul Hsieh    PermaLink ()    Comments (New Page)     Wednesday, November 19, 2008 When an Engineer Owns a Dog By Greg Perkins @ 2:32 PM This is hilarious and cool! But now I can't help wondering if the connection I feel with the dogs I play with is an illusion. ;^) Labels: Animals, Cool, Funny   E-mail Greg Perkins    PermaLink ()    Comments (New Page)     Friday, November 14, 2008 How Well Do You Perceive Colors? By Paul Hsieh @ 1:33 PM You can test your hue discrimination accuracy here. A perfect score is zero. Good epistemology requires percepts as well as concepts! (Via Mental Floss.) Labels: Cool   E-mail Paul Hsieh    PermaLink ()    Comments (New Page)     Wednesday, November 12, 2008 Walking Cultural Activism: One Nation By Greg Perkins @ 4:55 PM Tammy and I thought it would be great to produce a series of T-shirt designs for those occasions when it is appropriate to wear our ideas on our sleeves. Bonus points if they aren't just provocative but actually spark some good engagement! Here are two designs that respond to the religionists who called on Congress to edit our nation's official Pledge of Allegiance in the 1950's to include the phrase "under God" -- along with all those today who smile on that and wrongly insist that our great nation was founded on religious ideals. (Just click through to BoltOfReason.Com to check out all the available styles and colors. We of course love suggestions and requests -- we're already working on a lot of fun ideas, and if you are the first to hit us with a new one that we use in a future shirt design, you'll get one for free!) Labels: Activism, Cool, Shameless Commerce Division   E-mail Greg Perkins    PermaLink ()    Comments (New Page)     Who Owns The West? By Paul Hsieh @ 12:28 AM This map shows clearly how much of the Western US is owned by the federal government: The United States government has direct ownership of almost 650 million acres of land (2.63 million square kilometers) - nearly 30% of its total territory. These federal lands are used as military bases or testing grounds, nature parks and reserves and indian reservations, or are leased to the private sector for commercial exploitation (e.g. forestry, mining, agriculture). They are managed by different administrations, such as the Bureau of Land Management, the US Forest Service, the US Fish and Wildlife Service, the National Park Service, the Bureau of Indian Affairs, the US Department of Defense, the US Army Corps of Engineers, the US Bureau of Reclamation or the Tennessee Valley Authority. This map details the percentage of state territory owned by the federal government. The top 10 list of states with the highest percentage of federally owned land looks like this: 1. Nevada 84.5% 2. Alaska 69.1% 3. Utah 57.4% 4. Oregon 53.1% 5. Idaho 50.2% 6. Arizona 48.1% 7. California 45.3% 8. Wyoming 42.3% 9. New Mexico 41.8% 10. Colorado 36.6% The following thought then occurred to me. One day, the US is going to face a financial crisis due to the insolvency of Social Security that will make the current mortgage crisis look like chump change in comparison. And everyone who advocates privatizing Social Security also points out that there would be huge transition costs. So the question is whether those costs (or overall transition costs of moving from the current mixed economy to a fully consistent system of laissez-faire capitalism) could be covered by selling off those Federal lands? It might conceivably have to be done in stages to avoid depressing the market by dumping all that land on the market at once. But there is something appealing about the idea of paying for the transition costs of privatizing our economy by a method which also privatizes a big chunk of US government assets. Labels: Cool, Economics   E-mail Paul Hsieh    PermaLink ()    Comments (New Page)     Thursday, November 06, 2008 Mad Skills in Card Handling By Greg Perkins @ 1:16 PM Found this over on Noob and simply had to share it. Bill Malone performs an amazing card routine: Sam the Bellhop. Enjoy! Labels: Cool, Funny   E-mail Greg Perkins    PermaLink ()    Comments (New Page)     Friday, October 31, 2008 Slime Mold! By Diana Hsieh @ 12:26 PM I vaguely recall doing a report for my ninth grade biology class on slime mold. However, I don't recall pictures anywhere near this cool. (Via MR.) Labels: Cool, Science   E-mail Diana Hsieh    PermaLink ()    Comments (New Page)     Thursday, October 23, 2008 Acrobatics By Diana Hsieh @ 6:02 PM Wow, this video of mind-blowing acrobatics on a flexible bar makes the balance beam look damn easy: (Via The Agitator.) Labels: Cool, Sports   E-mail Diana Hsieh    PermaLink ()    Comments (New Page)     Friday, September 26, 2008 Walking Cultural Activism: Got Reason? By Greg Perkins @ 6:21 PM Tammy and I thought it would be great to produce a series of T-shirt designs for those occasions when it is appropriate to wear our ideas on our sleeves.  Bonus points if they aren't just provocative but actually spark some good engagement! Here is the first design.  It uses the same font and style of a certain famous ad campaign, echoing its clever device for pointing to something important we need and should want: (Just click through to BoltOfReason.Com to check out all the available styles and colors. We of course love suggestions and requests -- we're already working on a lot of fun ideas, and if you are the first to hit us with a new one that we use in a future shirt design, you'll get one for free!) Labels: Activism, Cool, Shameless Commerce Division   E-mail Greg Perkins    PermaLink ()    Comments (New Page)     Tuesday, September 16, 2008 Water Fountain By Diana Hsieh @ 1:37 PM There's nothing worse than the big vertical jets of water that often populate shopping malls. They're loud -- and not interesting in the slightest. In contrast, I've seen some cool "jumping" fountains, but this fountain beats them all: (Via Guy.) Labels: Cool, Technology   E-mail Diana Hsieh    PermaLink ()    Comments (New Page)     Tuesday, August 19, 2008 Threat to America By Diana Hsieh @ 2:33 PM Watching the demolition of this house made a new threat to America all-too-clear to me, namely that our homes are shockingly vulnerable to destruction from large monsters. Seriously, they are just too damn flimsy. (That's Greg and Tammy Perkins' house, by the way.) Labels: Cool   E-mail Diana Hsieh    PermaLink ()    Comments (New Page)     Friday, June 27, 2008 A Moral Example of Salami Slicing By Greg Perkins @ 12:47 AM Remember that technique which showed up in the plots of movies like Superman III, Hackers, and Office Space, where someone would change bank software to take fractions of cents from transactions like interest payments and funnel them all into one account? Nobody misses a fraction of a cent -- but given enough transactions over time, the sum can really add up! That's what they call "Salami Slicing." Of course it is stealing in cases like that, but the same idea of accumulating vast numbers of tiny values that are hardly noticeable could legitimately pay off, too. Consider this fact about driving your vehicle: left turns often require waiting for oncoming traffic to clear, taking a little more time and gas on average than right turns do. Now, this doesn't make all that much of a difference to most of us (just like the above fraction of a cent we may or may not get in interest from the bank) -- but if you have a fleet of 90,000 big brown trucks that follow the routes you schedule for them each day to deliver packages, then adjusting your software to minimize left turns could really add up! Last year, according to Heather Robinson, a U.P.S. spokeswoman, the software helped the company shave 28.5 million miles off its delivery routes, which has resulted in savings of roughly three million gallons of gas... That's some serious scratch, especially with the price of gas today! I love it -- kudos to the brain at UPS who saw and brilliantly exploited this little fact. [HT: Jason] Labels: Business, Cool, Ethics   E-mail Greg Perkins    PermaLink ()    Comments (New Page)     Thursday, June 19, 2008 Just a Pleasant Springtime Hike By Paul Hsieh @ 12:12 PM If you have a fear of heights, then don't watch this video. And especially don't watch it in "full screen" mode (small icon near the bottom right that looks like a square with brackets). (Via Not Totally Rad.) Labels: Cool   E-mail Paul Hsieh    PermaLink ()    Comments (New Page)     Saturday, June 14, 2008 Not Your Father's Way Up Pike's Peak By Diana Hsieh @ 6:00 AM BoingBoing says: "This short film of the Peugeot 405 T16 rally car doing a run up Pikes Peak is fantastic. I love the piano intro, the tone of the film stock, and most of all: the driving. Can you imagine what it must feel like to toss a 1,000-bhp rally car around a dirt track just inches away from certain death?" Just watching the run from the comfort of my living room that got my heart racing! (Via Howard.) Labels: Cool   E-mail Diana Hsieh    PermaLink ()    Comments (New Page)     Saturday, June 07, 2008 Juggling By Diana Hsieh @ 4:30 PM Many years ago, my co-blogger Greg attempted to teach me to juggle. While I was skeptical, he told me that he could teach anyone to juggle in an hour. After three hours of attempting to correct painful juggling ineptitude, he finally admitted defeat. Hence, I watch this awesome bit of juggling using a large triangle with no small degree of awe: Update: Damn, that video has been pulled. Try this one: (Just ignore the idiotic commentary.) Here's a longer -- and slightly comic -- performance, without the idiotic commentary: Labels: Cool   E-mail Diana Hsieh    PermaLink ()    Comments (New Page)     Thursday, May 29, 2008 The Panama Canal in 75 Seconds By Paul Hsieh @ 5:23 PM This cool time lapse movie shows a passage of a tanker through the Panama Canal in 75 Seconds. The Panama Canal Authority website states, "The history of the construction of the Panama Canal is the saga of human ingenuity and courage: years of sacrifice, crushing defeat, and final victory. Many gave their life in the effort. Follow the story from the early days of the French construction period, to the completion by the United States, and into the present time." More details of the history of this amazing creation can be found here. And of course there's a Wikipedia article. (Via Joost Bonsen.) Labels: Cool, Technology   E-mail Paul Hsieh    PermaLink ()    Comments (New Page)     Tuesday, May 20, 2008 Peanut Butter Ingenuity By Paul Hsieh @ 5:28 PM Sometimes, simple ideas are often the best. For example, the invention known as the Easy PB&J Jar: ...How many times have reached the bottom of the jar only to be frustrated at not being able to get those last few bits? Well, too often for me. The Easy PB&J Jar is a jar with two lids that allows you to access all of your peanut butter easily without having to resort to breaking open the jar. As you near the end on one side, simply flip the jar over to get the rest. The straight and smooth internal walls also ensure that no peanut butter is ever left behind a nook or cranny like existing jars. (Via Neatorama.) Labels: Cool   E-mail Paul Hsieh    PermaLink ()    Comments (New Page)     Sunday, March 30, 2008 GDP Made Concrete By Diana Hsieh @ 1:17 AM This map isn't new, but it's pretty damn cool: US States Renamed for Countries with Similar GDPs. We're in Finland! Labels: Cool, Economics   E-mail Diana Hsieh    PermaLink ()    Comments (New Page)     Sunday, February 17, 2008 Parkour + Soccer Ball = Cool Video By Diana Hsieh @ 8:31 AM Not your father's soccer moves: Whoops... That version video was removed from YouTube. Here's a working version of the same: Labels: Cool   E-mail Diana Hsieh    PermaLink ()    Comments (New Page)     Saturday, February 16, 2008 How Bobbins Work By Diana Hsieh @ 7:14 AM For all of you fascinated by the mysterious workings of your sewing machine, here's an animated gif of a working bobbin. Very cool! Labels: Cool, Technology   E-mail Diana Hsieh    PermaLink ()    Comments (New Page)

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